Narrative of the 1958 Smithsonian-Bredin 
Caribbean Expedition 
By Watpo L. ScumitTtT 
Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution 
[With 10 plates]) 
THIS NARRATIVE is based on the fieldwork of the second Caribbean 
expedition sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. J. Bruce Bredin, of Wilmington, 
Del.t The scientific staff assembled in Miami for an airflight rendez- 
vous in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, whence the expedition departed on 
March 25, 1958, for a 6-week cruise among those islands, British and 
American, and the northern British Leewards. The expedition was 
brought to a close at English Harbor, Antigua, B.W.1., in time for a 
May 4 return to the States. 
The Smithsonian Institution, as before, was primarily interested in 
building up its study collections and enhancing its representation of 
the animal and plant life of the West Indian-Caribbean area; and also 
adding to our knowledge of the zoogeographic distribution of this 
fauna and flora. In the course of the earlier expedition, 4,000 plant 
specimens, 18,000 insects, more than 27,000 marine invertebrate ani- 
mals, and some 1,700 specimens of fishes were collected for the U.S. 
National Museum. The over-all results of the 1958 expedition are yet 
to be assessed. 
EXPEDITION PERSONNEL 
For the 1958 cruise we were most fortunate in having again the 
Freelance, the 86-foot schooner-yacht which served us so well on the 
1956 expedition, with Capt. Desmond Nicholson in command. Our 
professional staff this year included J. Bruce Bredin, sponsor of the 
expedition; John Finlay, conchologist of Varadero, Cuba; Dr. Carl 
N. Shuster, Jr., director of the University of Delaware’s marine labora- 
tories at Newark and Lewes, Del.; Dr. J. F. Gates Clarke, curator of 
insects in the U.S. National Museum, entomologist also on the previous 
Caribbean expedition ; and the author, research associate of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, of which Mr. Bredin is also an honorary fellow. 
1An account of the first Caribbean expedition appeared in the Smithsonian Report for 
1956, pp. 443-460, 1957, under the title ‘‘A Narrative of the Smithsonian-Bredin Caribbean 
Expedition, 1956.” 
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